Rishi Sunak: Key questions were cut short – but that didn’t stop prime minister getting skewered at the Liaison Committee
For the senior MPs on the Liaison Committee, it was an opportunity missed. Apart from one explosive clash that left a shifty-looking Rishi Sunak totally skewered.
Coming six months to the day since the prime minister announced his five priorities for the year, the committee should have put him under pressure on the progress so far.
But it was mostly an unsatisfactory 90 minutes, with the MPs’ questions constantly interrupted by a fussy Sir Bernard Jenkin, the chairman, who was rushing them along in a frantic attempt to finish on time.
At the beginning of the session at 2pm, Mr Sunak haughtily told Sir Bernard he had a “pressing engagement” at 3.30pm, so they must not go over time. To which Sir Bernard should have replied: “Tough!”
The biggest disappointment was his curtailing of the forensic Dame Diana Johnson, who was beginning to get under the PM’s skin with some tough questions on one of his five priorities, stop the boats.
Dame Diana, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, accused him of betting everything on his Rwanda policy being upheld in the Supreme Court. Not fair, he said. The stop the boats pledge was on hold, she claimed. No, he said.
The other important clash on one of Mr Sunak’s five priorities came during some tenacious interrogation on the cost of living crisis by Labour’s Catherine McKinnell, first on soaring food prices and then on spiralling mortgage costs.
One of the many questions the prime minister dodged during the 90-minute hearing was when Ms McKinnell, one of the stars of these Liaison Committee hearings, asked him what percentage he would put on achieving his target of halving inflation.
Lamely, he replied: “I’m working 100% to deliver it.”
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It was all very bland, full of jargon such as “downstream cost”, whatever that is, and the PM gave the impression he wished he was somewhere else and couldn’t be bothered.
But then he got a shock. The committee exploded into life in a blistering exchange with Sir Chris Bryant, who chairs the Standards Committee and lambasted Mr Sunak for dodging privileges votes, Commons statements and PMQs.
On the Privileges Committee report on seven Tory MPs denouncing the Boris Johnson partygate inquiry as a “whitewash” and “kangaroo court”, Mr Sunak said: “I haven’t read every page of the report.”
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“It’s three pages long!” Sir Chris shot back. It’s also worth pointing out that Mr Sunak quoted the report he said he hadn’t read in his letter to Zac Goldsmith after he resigned last Friday.
At one point during his highly entertaining skewering of Mr Sunak, Sir Chris threw his head back and shouted: “Oh come off it, prime minister.” Many people listening to the whole session will have endorsed that sentiment.
If these sessions are to work and be productive, they need to be longer than 90 minutes, as they used to be. The committee has already cut the number of MPs asking questions, which has helped.
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“It’s about three pages long!” PM and Sir Chris Bryant clash over privileges committee’s special report
The whole idea of the hearings is for detailed cross-examination of a PM on his or her policies away from the bearpit atmosphere of Prime Minister’s Questions. Here, to be fair, some members of the committee attempted forensic probing on policy details.
But they were thwarted by a prime minister who clearly had no intention of explaining his approach to the cost of living crisis or migrant crossings in any detail. He’ll no doubt conclude “job done”. But no doubt the MPs will feel they weren’t able to do their job very effectively this time.
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Read more:
What’s in the proposed deal?
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on beachfront cafe in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Biden hails possibility of agreement
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
Analysis:
Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions
Pic: Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re very close’
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
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Pic: AP
Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
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Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.
President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold photos of their loved ones during a protest on 8 January. Pic: AP
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.
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